- To look up the definition of a word in the search bar enter ‘Define <word>, then expand the result box for translations, word origin and more definitions
- To use the Google calculator, enter calculator in the search bar
- Google is also a unit converter. Just type your conversion into the search box e.g. 10 pounds to kg. The unit converter also has drop down boxes to select different conversions.
- To check the Weather, type Weather <location> e.g. Weather Otaki
- To check the Airline flights enter the flight number in the search bar e.g. NZ419
- To set a countdown timer enter “set timer for” followed by the desiredamount of time e.g. ‘set timer for 1 minute’
- Add ‘filetype:’ to your search to display results that only match a certain file type e.g. if you wanted to display PDF results only type: “Sony TV” filetype:pdf — this is a great way to find online manuals.
- Google can also search in specific countries. Add ‘site:au’ to only search Australian websites e.g. ‘holidays site:au’
- Google can also ignore words, e.g. if you were looking up information about the Falcon bird then searching for ‘Falcon —car’ will ignore pages with the word car in them
- Don’t forget the Tools at the top of the search page e.g. ‘Search Tools’ will bring up the ‘Any time’ drop-down to enable you to customise the date range in your search
Fun Stuff
- Do a barrel roll — type this into google search and google will oblige you a screen barrel roll ** strangely addictive to watch
- Search for ‘zerg rush’ creates a search page being eaten by ‘O’s.
- Missing those good old days of Pac-man? Type ‘Pac-man’ on search bar, and hit enter to bring up Pac-man on google doodle